"Digenis Akritis" is Byzantium's only epic poem, telling of the exploits of a heroic warrior of "double descent" on the frontiers between Byzantine and Arab territory in Asia Minor in the ninth and tenth centuries. It survives partially in six versions, of which the two oldest are edited here. This edition and translation aims to highlight the nature of the lost poem, and to provide a guide through the maze of recent discussions about the epic and its background.

"Digenis Akritis" is Byzantium's only epic poem, telling of the exploits of a heroic warrior of "double descent" on the frontiers between Byzantine and Arab territory in Asia Minor in the ninth and tenth centuries. It survives partially in six versions, of which the two oldest are edited here. This edition and translation aims to highlight the nature of the lost poem, and to provide a guide through the maze of recent discussions about the epic and its background.

Sir Steven Runciman's History of the Crusades (1951 4) remains widely read and influential but represents only a part of his wide-ranging, erudite and immensely readable literary activity. His early work focused on Byzantium in the tenth century (The Emperor Romanus Lecapenus) and the history of the first Bulgarian empire. Later he wrote with authority on ecclesiastical relations between the eastern and western Churches (The Eastern Schism), more generally on Byzantine culture (Byzantine Style and Civilization), with forays into medieval diplomacy (The Sicilian Vespers) and British colonial...